Biblish: According to…
One stock phrase that comes up quite often in many English Bible translations is according to. It’s bona fide English, but it contains within it a subtle trap which can be quite annoying or disconcerting for the reader and this is why. You’ll probably recognise 2 kinds of use of according to in everyday English: …
Why discourse study makes great translator training
2018 was something of a departure from normal patterns for Ashe and for me. To the surprise of many, I did almost no checking of translation with Ashe, but focussed on studying 6 Ashe stories – some true, some folk tales. I had reasons to think this was absolutely necessary, and even though it’s taken …
The Lord is my Goat Hunter
One of my favourite short articles about Bible translation was written 56 years ago by Constance Naish and Gillian Story working among Tlingit people in Alaska. They reflect on how the interpreters for the first missionaries there 100 years ago (mis-)understood the Bible. It’s comic and tragic and repeated in some similar way every day …